2019 was a dynamic and successful year for CSEA with several notable accomplishments, capping over a decade of producing evidence-based research and analysis in Africa. It also marks a significant period for the Centre, as the Institutional funding provided by the Think Tank Initiative (TTI) of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) ended.

A major highlight for the year under review is the Centre’s award as a Center of Excellence by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). As a Center of Excellence, CSEA and UNCTAD will
collaborate closely on research, capacity building and dissemination of research outputs. This strategic partnership will significantly enrich CSEA research work and increase its reach to a wider audience.

In 2019, we embarked on a year-long strategy of repositioning our research objectives to align with the hanges in the development space, in response to emerging opportunities. Thus, CSEA explored other relevant areas of research including- climate change, gender, and social inclusion policies. This increased the Centre’s success towards receiving a record number of awarded research projects in 2019.

This year’s annual report comes amidst big changes around the global development policy space. These developments have also been accompanied by rapid changes in the research funding landscape. For CSEA, it marks a significant era as the Institutional funding provided by the Think Tank Initiative (TTI) of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) ends. For the past decade, CSEA has been a beneficiary of this funding, which provided major institutional support that enabled the Centre position itself as an evidence-based and high-performing research Centre in Africa.

In order to maintain the successes and progress achieved over the years, CSEA continued to build on its consistency of providing actionable recommendations that influence policy choices. Specifically, the Centre restructured and strengthened its research capacity, organizational structure as well as its policy linkages, communication and outreach to ensure that its research output is channelled into the policy space.

In the year under review, CSEA recorded significant policy impact using evidence from research conducted. However, the recent changes in the policy space underscored the need for the Centre to align its research to priority areas -such as climate change, gender, and social inclusion policies- with several funding opportunities. In response to these emerging opportunities, CSEA began to explore other relevant areas of research. For instance, the Centre carried out a pilot study on livelihood assessment of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps to assess their existing livelihood strategies propose the most effective ways to help such individuals to rebuild and strengthen their livelihoods. This study has provided a platform for CSEA to explore more research and expand its capacity on this important development issue.

As Nigeria is currently witnessing an economic and fiscal crisis, the need for evidence-based and timely research to guide policymakers in making informed decisions have become ever more useful.  CSEA,  as  a  leading  think  tank in  Africa, with proximity to policymakers in the capital city of  Abuja,  is  increasingly  repositioning  itself  to track and   analyse   key   developments   in   the Nigerian economy, and provide actionable recommendations. Thus the centre has strengthened its organizational structure, research capacity and quality, as well as its dissemination strategy to ensure that policy-relevant research is continuously channeled into the policy space

CSEA has continued in its tradition of providing rigorous and relevant evidence-based research that is used to inform policies in Nigeria. To provide timely and relevant evidence-based research on Nigeria‟s economy, the Centre established the Information and Data Management Unit (IDM). The main objective of this Unit is to collate qualitative and quantitative data and provide periodic analysis on Nigeria‟s economy. The unit consists of a Research Associate, Research Assistants and Communications officer. The team produces a weekly update of recent happenings in the economy under CSEA‟s thematic research areas.